STEM to STEAM

Botany, Botanical Illustration, and Bookbinding

In July 2012 Curator of Fine Arts Mareca Guthrie worked with UAF Botany Professor Jan Dawe, book artist Margo Klass, Chris Pastro, a teacher at Randy Smith Jr. High School, and Karen Stomberg, head of the Art Center Fairbanks North Star Borough School District to develop a workshop for teachers integrating science and art through botany, illustration, and bookbinding.

As one of the instructors, Guthrie taught the section on botanical illustration. The students were made up of 18 teachers who researched, illustrated and wrote about plants native to Fairbanks. They produced hand-bound books and an exhibit of original illustrations that was exhibited as a First Friday exhibition in the Fairbanks North Star Borough School District Board Room in September of 2012.